1852 Carpenter

Picture of the Day · NASA

Pathfinder on Mars

2026-07-04

On July 4th, 1997, using its own array of fireworks, a parachute, and a cocoon of airbags, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft bounced like a giant beach ball at least 15 times before it came to rest on the surface of Mars at 10:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time. After its then novel airbag-assisted landing sequence was completed, Pathfinder transmitted this color mosaic to mission operators on Earth. In the scene from another world, the Mars Sojourner robot rover is visible in the foreground, crouched on top of the unfolded Pathfinder. About the size of a large house cat, the six-wheeled, solar-powered Sojourner became the first successful Martian rover. Surrounding Pathfinder are deflated airbags and the rock-strewn terrain of the Ares Vallis floodplain. In the distance Martian hills appear against a dusty brownish sky. The Pathfinder lander was subsequently renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station.

via NASA APOD

Key facts

Discovered by

Indiana University , ( Indiana Asteroid Program )

Discovery site

Goethe Link Obs.

Discovery date

1 April 1955

Named after

Edwin Carpenter , (American astronomer)

Alternative designations

1955 GA · 1931 TT 2 , 1937 WH · 1939 FK

Minor planet category

main-belt · Eos

Observation arc

87.87 yr (32,094 d)

Aphelion

3.2004 AU

Perihelion

2.8329 AU

Semi major axis

3.0167 AU

Orbital period sidereal

5.24 yr (1,914 d)

Mean anomaly

194.18 °

Mean motion

0° 11 17.16 / day

Inclination

11.197°

Longitude of ascending node

95.338°

Argument of perihelion

353.15°

Mean diameter

21.378 ± 0.208 , 22.9 km

Geometric albedo

0.1224 ± 0.024 , 0.128 ± 0.025

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of

asteroid

Named after

Edwin Francis Carpenter

Followed by

1853 McElroy

Follows

1851 Lacroute

Parent body

Sun

Minor-planet group

asteroid belt

Diameter

21.378

Orbital period

1910.65908217362

via Wikidata · CC0